Uh... It's not what it looks like?
The changeling disguised as Cadance laughed, still not dropping her disguise. It almost seemed like she was doing it just to hurt Twilight, which if so it did its job well. Chrysalis looked out the window. "'My love will give you strength'? What a lovely, however totally ridiculous sentiment."
Then, Shining Armor and Cadance (the real one) touched horns. The magic surged around them, and suddenly everything went pink. Twilight could feel the magic in the air, it was so strong. She heard Chrysalis scream as she and her changelings were defenestrated. (or just shoved straight through a wall)
She took a moment before getting up to observe the area. She immediately noticed something wrong even with just the cursory glance.
"Wait, why are there still two Cadances?" Chrysalis(??) laughed. "You have all fallen into my TRAP! I was not affected by the shield because I am not actually a changeling! I..." Evil Cadance(????) started sweating. Twilight Sparkle was already nursing her headache and her oncoming worse headache with one hoof. "You what?" Evil Cadance(?!) bit down on her hoof. "I didn't exactly plan this far ahead." Twilight groaned and almost resigned herself to a position on the floor out of pure frustration as her friends tried to process what had just happened. Pinkie Pie was the first to finish processing this new information, and instantly decided to voice her thoughts. "So wait, if you aren't Cadance, and if you aren't Chrysalis, then who are you?" Evil Cadance(...) latched onto the opportunity. "Haha! You see, I am actually!" Evil Cadance started scanning the room desperately. "...uhm. I am... I... am a owner of a shop that sells blinds, and therefore windows! Therefore... you now will all have to pay me to fix your windows, and then I will topple the economy! Muahahaha! Hahahah! Ha! Haha?" "Yeah but who the hay are you?! I gotta take names before I kick butt!" Rainbow Dash apparently just decided that figuring out what was even happening was too hard. She was always an "in the moment" pony. Chrysalis, however, seemed to be a "oh Celestia any moment but this please" type. "My name is... my name is..." She scanned the room again, settling upon a battered blind. Which was odd because there weren't even any blinds on the windows in the room. Before the whole pink explosion thing, at least. All the windows were broken now. Anyway, she stared at it, gears turning in her brain like a foal was cranking a windup toy very carelessly. "My name is...! This Cord! Yes! That!" Pinkie Pie started laughing, while Rainbow Dash just looked less battle ready and more confused. Welcome to the club, foal. Rainbow Dash stuttered as she tried to desperately grasp at the situation. "Wait, is your name This Cord or That Cord?" Twilight internally screamed at Rainbow Dash for getting stuck in an exponential question asking loop, but remained mum merely out of the strength of what curiosity remained. Chrysalis thankfully looked at Rainbow like that was a stupid question, which meant that the answer would probably be simple. "No! That's my second in command." She then slapped a hoof on her mouth like she had released secret info, then lowered it. "Ah, well. They're all probably dead." Twilight Sparkle took that moment to question why Faust had forsaken them. Rainbow Dash however interrupted her prayer to wake up from this hell. "Wait, that cord's your second in command?" Pinkie Pie gasped. "THEY'VE BEEN INFILTRATING ALL THIS TIME! AMAZINGLY DEEP COVER!!" "Pinkie no." "RAINBOW DASH! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?!" "Pinkie please no." Pinkie Pie took a huge gasp in and everyone in the room, even actual Cadance (let's not even consider the situation where she's the fake) who was passed out on the floor looked completely desperate. Pinkie Pie whispered to the entire room.
"They've been cordnating it all this time."
Everyone, even the ones still in shock groaned.
"We've been blind to them all this time! We can still win, dow! If we go to the store and look for a pool noodle, then are w-"
Pinkie Pie managed to advance psychology studies years by proving in this blind study that it was possible to pun everypony in a room out of shock if the puns are bad enough. However, this did not prove very useful in this situation. Immediately, there was screaming at Pinkie to stop. She looked sad and muttered something about interrupting a punchline. Then, everyone processed the current situation and started screaming at that, too, slightly more upset.
"WHY IS SHE STILL HERE?!" "WHY ARE THERE TWO CADANCES?!?" "I'm not going to be getting out of bed any time soon, am I?" "WHICH ONE IS THE FAKE!?!?" Everyone started screaming, except for Twilight, Pinkie Pie, both Cadances, and Shining Armor. Shining Armor quietly weighed the gain versus the loss of having two Cadances. Cadance was passed out on the floor. Not Chrysalis had her head in her hooves for a probable multitude of reasons. Twilight Sparkle was about ready to personally make a new window in the room with her forehead.
"My little ponies."
Somehow, despite being more than a few simply said words from a distance that could barely be heard through the noise, Celestia managed to quiet down the entire room. Twilight had to ask her how to do that some time.
"I think instead of shouting, we should assess the situation calmly."
